MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the 4th installment in the popular series, and Tom Cruise’s first hit movie as a leading man since the last Mission: Impossible five years ago.  Anyone who’s contributed to the backlash against Cruise will put all that aside while watching this film.   There’s so much action that it’s hard to think about anything else. 
But that doesn’t mean you forget who it is you’re watching.  Cruise stamps the movie with his presence, doing all the stunt work himself.  Sure he’s a millionaire and can get whatever stuntmen he wants to do the hard work, but he’s a thrill-seeker who lives for this stuff.  Knowing it’s really him up there hanging off the 124^th floor of the tallest building in the world just makes it all the more riveting.  The movie focuses more on straight-up action than an intriguing plot, but it makes sure the action scenes are thrilling enough to compensate for story.
This installment doesn’t have a great villain like the 3^rd one did, neither does have it as good of a story going for it as I just mentioned.  But what helps this one is the team that Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, is put with.  This film is a little more of an ensemble piece rather than Hunt running the show by himself.   He had a team in the last Mission: Impossible film, but here they have a lot more to do.  In fact, during the final scene it’s Ethan Hunt who’s kind of watching over everything and letting the other guys handle certain aspects of the mission.  The supporting players - Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg - all round out a very good cast managing to steal a little of the spotlight from Cruise.  The success of the film almost guarantees that there will be a part 5, and now we can officially say that Tom Cruise is back.